This invention relates to water sanitation apparatus. The invention has particular application to water sanitation apparatus for sanitizing water in spa baths or spa pools. However, the water sanitation apparatus according to the present invention may have application in other areas requiring sanitization of water.
The term “sanitation” and “sanitization” as used herein refers to the treatment of water for human immersion by the removal of contaminants, particularly biological agents, which may produce an adverse reaction in humans when exposed thereto, such as bacteria, viruses or the like. The waters contained in spas, swimming pools and similar recreational facilities is sanitised to prevent the spreading of disease. The most common form of treatment is chlorination, which is very effective, but users may find the odour of chlorine which results from chlorination disagreeable.
There are some contaminants in water which resist sanitation by chlorination, and other sanitation agents have been found very effective, such as ozonation and UV irradiation. However, ozonation also produces unpleasant odours and UV irradiation does not have any significant residual effect outside the irradiation chamber. It has been suggested that ozonation combined with UV irradiation may provide superior sanitation, but would require two separate treatments.
Prior art systems purport to teach the sanitation of water using ozone by relying on ozone production as a result of UV irradiation. Such systems are not well known in the art. While it may be the case that ozone may be produced by UV irradiation under some conditions, the production of ozone is haphazard at best and cannot be controlled. The ozone so produced is a by-product of UV irradiation. In some systems, it may be produced when the UV passes through air, and so it may be fed into the water, almost as an afterthought, to aid in sanitation of the water. The production of ozone in such systems is haphazard at best and is normally not even measurable.
The present invention aims to provide sanitation apparatus which ameliorates the problems of the prior art and/or is reliable and efficient in use. Other advantages of the invention may become apparent from the following description.